


wilting flowers

by gaytimetraveller



Category: Persona 2
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, M/M, hell yes metal jun has arrived
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 03:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8829490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaytimetraveller/pseuds/gaytimetraveller
Summary: If there was one person who Tatsuya trusted with his life and would wordlessly let him take it, it was Jun. Even if Jun happened to be a golden statue, there was no one left he could trust more.





	

**Author's Note:**

> ok so remember metal jun and that whole scene in ep aka where imo more things shouldve happened there couldve been more guys there couldve been more

“We went through a lot, but I’m glad we met again…”

“Chinyan… Don’t forget about me…”

With every word those metal mockeries said, it seemed like things were drawing to a close, and quite frankly, Tatsuya could only think was that there was no better way to die than at the hands of those he loved most. He closed his eyes and took in a slow, shaky breath, already knowing what was going to be said next.

“I won’t forget…the sin I committed, you, or anyone…”

Tatsuya struggled to let that breath back out, on the verge of tears but not quite giving in. He could feel his throat tightening, it felt like everything was closing on him, and he tried his damnedest to keep his breathing even, trying to keep from crying as best he could. He tried not to think about it, but the only comfort he had for himself was _at least you’re with friends_.

Needless to say, it didn’t work.

“Tatsuya…you can stop suffering…let us ease your suffering…?” (Metal) Jun’s words were shockingly soft, _warm_ , and so terribly, heartbreakingly _desperate_. Those words were as gentle as Jun was himself, just as melancholy too, and Tatsuya couldn’t stop thinking about how gentle Jun had always been, kind and giving and warm and always so soft to the touch. He sounded just like Jun, so warm, so beautiful, but so sorrowful, so often feeling as if he was utterly alone.

The look on the face of this mockery of his doppelgänger didn’t help. That pain, as much pain as he was in himself, Tatsuya just wanted to hug him and hold him and cup his face in his hands, tell him he was alright and that it was all okay even if it wasn’t he could try and make his words a reality. But still, even now, he could never get the words out.

When he’d tried to say it, even with the real Jun, _his_ Jun, even when he did manage to form words they were never right. They were always backwards, mismatched, mumbled and stuttered, tangled up like the best of tied knots; it was never quite right. So, often he thought it was best if he just didn’t speak. What good was saying anything when he couldn’t even get the simplest thoughts across without somehow messing it all up? There was always meaning lost, someone always took his words the wrong way, or didn’t hear them at all.

Tatsuya could feel more tears running down his face, and could only quietly sob as that cruel(ly beautiful) metal duplicate laid a hand on his face, softly wiping away tears. Tatsuya thought that touch was awfully tender for something made of metal.

He had to close his eyes to stop from crying more when that hand didn’t leave his face. He slowly raised his own hand, silently laying it over that of that cold doppelgänger and—

_(It almost felt real.)_

Cold, unyielding, golden fingers laced through Tatsuya’s. He wondered how something metal could feel so genuine, and that this mockery would be made out of the most malleable metal, well, it was fitting. Tatsuya wondered if he held on tight enough if the metal would start to warp, just to fit perfectly into to the shape of his hand. More than anything, he wished that hand wasn’t chilled, but instead warm and real and _alive_.

Tatsuya slowly opened his eyes at the cool touch of another hand at the other side of his face, fingers twisting into his hair. He looked up at Jun’s metal face, a perfect recreation of just how he’d always looked, morose expression and all. He looked so very genuinely concerned, and Tatsuya felt like he was falling apart, fractured and split by the deepest jolt of fear he’d felt since the numb horror of the end of everything.

He wasn’t just an empty metal husk in the shape of Jun, he was Jun just as Tatsuya remembered him, just as he’d always been, always would be.

Slowly, carefully, Tatsuya raised himself up on one elbow, still holding metal Jun’s hand, and used his other to gently touch that golden face. It almost didn’t feel cold. The hand still clutched in his had gone warmer, and all he could think about was every other time he’d held Jun’s hand, and every time he’d been too afraid to. Tatsuya wished he hadn’t been so afraid to take Jun’s hand, maybe they could’ve had more time. (He’d only ever wanted to be happy, but even that had been turned into another sin.)

If it was possible to break Tatsuya’s heart any further, the look of genuine anguish on metal Jun’s face was doing it. Tatsuya closed his eyes again and tried to quell the unsettlingly loud heartbeat resounding in his ears. He grasped metal Jun’s hand tighter as he leaned up towards him, and couldn’t help a bittersweet smile when he squeezed back, and couldn’t help whimpering when that other hand started wiping away his tears again. He leaned up further; metal Jun leaned down to meet him.

Tatsuya quietly gasped at the chill of metal Jun’s lips. He couldn’t believe that he was getting another chance at a last kiss. He couldn’t believe a golden statue of his own other half was kissing him back. Metal Jun clutched his hand even tighter, and his other hand left the side of Tatsuya’s face to move to the back of his head, gently pushing him closer, and Tatsuya knew it was just like his Jun, exactly like his Jun, exactly how he remembered it. This metal Jun would always be Jun just as Tatsuya remembered, nothing more, nothing less, and something about that was unbearably sad.

Perhaps it was because Jun had always been compared to a flower, and even wilted flowers could give way to new life, but this Jun was more like a pressed flower, a static image preserved forever. Eternally beautiful, eternally cold. No way to grow. No allowance for new life.

Yet, he still almost felt real, and as he kissed him Tatsuya’s brain shrieked contradictions and he wished everything could just be quiet for a moment. He just wanted it to be quiet enough for him to focus on this moment, preserve it as long as he could. Preserved just like this golden Jun. Another pressed flower.

Most times, doing anything with Jun, Tatsuya would flush and go warm, and somehow everything felt absolutely electric, but this time he could only feel himself growing colder, and that put a chill down his spine, another jolt of anxiety. Somehow it seemed a bad omen, but recently everything had been a bad omen; Tatsuya couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like something _good_ was coming.

(Once upon a time, the future had felt boundless and bright and warm as a summer’s day just within his reach, but that had been ripped away, the rug had been pulled out from in under everyone and quite frankly, Tatsuya was done falling for tricks. He knew he didn’t have a future left, not anymore. It was best not to dwell on what _could’ve_ been.)

(Tatsuya wasn’t very good at following through on his own advice.)

Slowly, ever so slowly, he pulled back. Tatsuya’s eyes slowly opened, and golden Jun stared back, a slightly shy smile on his face. Tatsuya sincerely wished he could lived in this moment forever. After all, it was his last.

After a few moments of perfect silence, Tatsuya remembered he had something, something important. He reached into his pocket, withdrawing a red camellia. Without a word, he pressed it into Jun’s hand.

Quietly, Tatsuya opened his mouth. “End this,” he murmured.

Metal Jun nodded. “I’m sorry,”

Moments later there was a golden sword right over Tatsuya’s heart and he could only think that this wouldn’t be the worst ending, only a little bittersweet. It was better than the inescapably terrible future he had waiting for him.

“My doppelgänger, my pale companion,” Metal Jun whispered.

He quickly, smoothly put the sword right through Tatsuya, who shook and shuddered.

Metal Jun squeezed Tatsuya’s hand again, and he weakly squeezed back. He smoothly leaned down to kiss Tatsuya on the forehead.

Tatsuya could feel metal Jun’s hand growing warmer as his own grew colder, and he shivered, never having grown so cold so quickly before, his fire seeming to have abandoned him. Apollo hadn’t quite left him, he felt more like he had faded; he wondered if others were always so _cold_.

“Goodnight,”

Tatsuya’s eyes fluttered closed, and metal Jun tenderly cupped his face, the same way he’d done to him so many times.

“Goodnight, sweet prince,” Metal Jun sighed, lips just brushing against Tatsuya’s forehead. “And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest,”

As metal Jun’s hands seemed to grow warmer on his face, and he felt himself fading, everything finally quieting, curtains drawing to a close, Tatsuya could only think that this death was surprisingly comforting. (Anything with Jun was comforting, and there was no one Tatsuya trusted more to take his own life than the one person he would never be able to live without.)

It wasn’t a bad way to go.

**Author's Note:**

> guys guys ok this should've been an alternate ending for ep 
> 
> ep should've had more endings and this would've been a rly good one ok


End file.
